Writing for the Public

Draft Workshop #2: Profile

Trade #1: Give your profile to a partner who has not read your profile. Read as an interested audience member, thinking about the following questions. Respond to the questions in the space below

·       What did you learn?

·       What were you confused about?

·       Where might the writer elaborate?

·       Where did the profile go off track?

·       Pinpoint three concerns you have as a reader. 

Trade #2: Give profile to a new partner—one who has not read your profile. Discuss global issues of the profile.

Attention to Audience: Here are strategies the writer might use: calling on commonplaces (places, people, events familiar to the audience), speaking directly to audience’s needs, connecting to audience’s state of mind or values (these are also emotional appeals). How is the writer attending to his/her audience? How might the writer better attend to his/her audience?

Purpose: What’s the goal of the profile? How is the writer achieving that goal? How might s/he fine-tune the purpose of the document? What are you learning about the issue and the person under study?

Emotional Appeals: How might the writer better appeal to the audience’s emotions or values? How might the writer create a dominant impression through enargeia, examples, similes and metaphors, anecdotes, qualifying words (adjectives, adverbs), connotative and denotative language, and references?

Logical Appeals: How does the writer support claims with evidence, facts, statistics, and reasons? How might the writer create more persuasive logical appeals?

Ethical Appeals: What do you think about the writer as you read the profile? How is s/he cultivating a reliable ethos through showing good will to the audience, doing his/her homework, or presenting him/herself as a reliable source? How might the writer compose a more persuasive ethos?

 Trade #3: Trade profiles with a new reader. Consider the more local issues of the profile

 Title: Review the title of the profile. How does the title explain the purpose and subject of the profile? Offer ideas for a better title.

Topic Sentences: How do the topic sentences signal to readers what’s to come in the paragraph below? Highlight the effective topic sentences; pinpoint topic sentences the writer might work on.

Transitions: How does the writer link one paragraph to the next? Highlight the effective transitions; pinpoint transitions the writer might work on.

Arrangement: Now that you’ve focused on the topic sentences and transitions, assess the arrangement of the profile. What organizational/arrangement strategy is the writer using? What suggestions do you have for better arrangement and organization? Which paragraphs or arguments seem out of place?

Quotations: Review the quotations the writer uses in the profile. Are they distinctive and noteworthy? Do they say something interesting about the profile subject? Give suggestions as to which quotations to keep and which to get rid of. Also, how is the writer introducing the quotations? Give suggestions for effective introductions.

Introduction and Conclusion: How does the writer interest the reader in the introduction? Give suggestions that would inspire readers to keep reading. What strategy does the writer use to conclude? Remember the writer might link the reader to his/her blog.